“I didn’t know how were going to get through it,” said dog-walker Annette Poitras, who got lost last November with three canines in a heavily wooded area on Coquitlam’s Burke Mountain.

Poitras was on a dog-walk when one of the pooches ran off. While locating the dog, Poitras fell, injured her back, lost her phone and become disoriented. It was raining heavily.

Clad only in tights, a T-shirt and a thin jacket, Poitras heard search helicopters overhead that first day, but had no way of signalling to get their attention. Nor did she have food or water for herself or the dogs.

On the second night she noticed that Roxy, the boxer, was shivering uncontrollably. So she took off her rain jacket and wrapped it around the dog. They tried to keep each other warm.

Her border collie, Chloe, wouldn’t come near or cuddle. “She was staying up, alert and on guard,” said Poitras.

It was Bubba, a 13-year-old Puggle, that showed Poitras how to stay alive. “Bubba was under a fern scratching at the ground,” said Poitras. She realized Bubba was scratching away the layer of cold, wet leaves, sticks and mulch to dig a dry hole to curl up in. With Roxy by her side, she copied Bubba, clearing away the wet debris, and huddling close to the ground.

On the third day, it was Roxy that heard members of Coquitlam Search and Rescue and started barking to alert them of the group’s whereabouts.

On Sunday, 75 days after her rescue, Poitras and her husband, Marcel, were at the Westwood Plateau Golf Club in Coquitlam for a special ceremony to thank members of the search and rescue organization for saving her life. The event was also a chance to honour the dogs that kept her spirits up during the three days and two nights she was lost on the mountain.

Poitras said she has learned to appreciate everything and everybody in her life, and thanked Coquitlam SAR members for rescuing her and the dogs. She was told by doctors that she wouldn’t have survived another night.

Poitras said she has some trouble sleeping, but has physically recovered from the ordeal. “I’m a fighter,” she said.

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart commended the “heroes of Coquitlam Search and Rescue” who give their time and risk their lives “every day in rain and horrible weather” to help lost hikers like Poitras.

Roxy’s owner, Janet Kilberg, expressed her gratitude to both Poitras and Coquitlam SAR for keeping her pooch safe during those agonizing three days last November. “Every time it rained harder, I cried harder,” said Kilberg.

Poitras, who says she wouldn’t hike again without taking survival essentials like her new GPS, extra water, food and clothing, is hoping the public will help Coquitlam SAR or their local SAR by donating.

In B.C., SAR teams are made up of volunteers and receive limited funding for training and expenses, with the bulk of funding coming through public donations. Coquitlam SAR volunteers train weekly, and participate in search-and-rescue operations either in Coquitlam or in support of other SAR teams in the region.

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